Brandon Rush wouldn’t complain if all of Kansas University’s basketball games were scheduled in the friendly confines of Allen Fieldhouse.
“I like it here better than going on the road where people have signs about you. They know your history and stuff. I like it here a lot better,” said Rush, KU’s sophomore forward from Kansas City, Mo.
Still, Rush realizes a victory on the road oftentimes is more significant than one in KU’s cozy, tradition-rich building.
“It’s fun to go to somebody else’s home, lay ’em down and make them play bad,” Rush said. “Most teams play well at home. Everybody’s goal is to make the home team play bad. It’s a goal for us when we go on the road.”
The Jayhawks (12-2) were the ones who fizzled in their only true road game of the season to this point – a 64-57 loss to DePaul on Dec. 2 at All-State Arena in suburban Chicago.
A chance for road redemption comes Sunday when KU and South Carolina (10-2) tangle at 3:30 p.m. at Colonial Center in Columbia, S.C.
“To find your true worth as a team, you have to be able to win away from home,” KU coach Bill Self said.
His ninth-ranked Jayhawks are 9-1 at home, 1-0 at nearby Kemper Arena and 2-0 at neutral sites to go with the one game in an enemy gym.
“It started out OK. It turned out pretty bad,” Rush said of the DePaul game, in which the Jayhawks squandered a 14-point lead with 14 minutes to play. “We let them get easy baskets, and their crowd got behind them. In road games we need to communicate because when you get the ball you can’t hear anything but the crowd.”
The Jayhawks went 15-1 at home, 6-3 on the road and 2-3 at neutral sites a year ago on their way to a 23-7 mark.
In Self’s first year at KU, the Jayhawks went 13-1 at home, 5-5 on the road and 6-3 at neutral sites to finish 24-9.
“The locker rooms on the road after a win are far more fun than locker rooms at home after a win,” Self said. “It means more. You have gone in somebody else’s place. You’ve gone into their house and taken from them. Just like you don’t want them to come in your house and take from you. That’s the pride thing that has to start generating with your team. It’s something you don’t talk about, but that’s a given.”
The Jayhawks obviously would like a big nonconference road win heading into the start of league play. KU will meet Oklahoma State in the Big 12 opener at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“You have to win on the road, and this gives us an opportunity to do that before the start of league play,” Self said. “(This could be) the finishing touch in what we hope to accomplish with our nonconference schedule.”
Asked what he wants to see Sunday, Self said: “Show some toughness and play well for the entire 40 minutes. Understand the importance of every possession. Usually you don’t catch the breaks, so to speak, as you do at home. There’s a natural comfort zone teams get from playing at home. You have to be a little bit better on the road and we’ll have to be better.”
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Kelley probable: South Carolina senior point guard Tre’ Kelley practiced hard on his strained left knee Friday and is listed as probable for Sunday. Kelley had minor swelling around the knee after a 30-minute workout Thursday.
Kelley had started 53 straight games before missing Wednesday night’s 67-53 victory over Western Carolina.
“If he’s ready to go, he starts,” Odom told the Associated Press on Friday.
“First of all, I don’t want to get in a fistfight with him. I say that with love, but that’s the way it is,” Odom added of the ultra-competitive player who doesn’t want to miss the game.
Odom said he plans on resting Kelley a minute or two before and after timeouts Sunday.
“Tre Kelley wants badly to finish with this team,” Odom said. “By all that’s possible, he’ll do it.”
Freshman point guard Brandis Raley-Ross says he’ll be prepared to play more if Kelley is not 100 percent.
“We just got to play like we did last game, play hard, play together,” Raley-Ross said. “Hopefully, Tre’ will be out there. If not, we’ve just got to play without him.”
South Carolina freshman forward Chad Gray is out with turf toe.
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OSU tickets available: A limited number of tickets are on sale for KU’s Big 12 opener against Oklahoma State on Wednesday. Tickets are $45 each and are available via kuathletics.com or by calling 1-800-34HAWKS.
